Blink and you’ll miss gold medal

T hey say a billion dollars is hard to fathom. Likewise, a hundredth of a second is almost impossible to understand, especially when it’s the difference between glory and obscurity.

Jerry Seinfeld once joked about how the silver medallist in the 100 metres would have to explain for the rest of his life the infinitesimal space between him and the Olympic champion.

The same dynamic exists for anyone who comes second in speedskating, luge, bobsled, downhill skiing and several other Winter Olympic events.

Even the people who finish fourth, eighth and 12th are within an incomprehensibly small margin of the podium. For anyone watching the Olympics, the gaps are impossible to observe and even more difficult to understand. Imagine how it must be for the athletes.

Everyone has heard about the tie for first in the women’s downhill. But it wasn’t just tight at the top of the standings. The eighth place finisher was less than a second behind the winner. The skier who finished 22nd was less than two seconds from the gold medallist. If they were all on the course at the same time, you’d barely have time to turn your head away from the winner before the next two dozen were across the line. It’s even tighter in the luge. In the fourth run of the men’s final, 25 athletes finished within one second of the champion.

Felix Loch has now won the last two Olympic gold medals in luge.

He’s had the fastest time in seven of the eight runs he’s completed over the finals at the last two Games. That’s an incredibly dominant performance. But he’s never won a single run by more than three-tenths of a second. That’s about the time it takes to blink.

Much has been made of Denny Morrison’s silver medal in the men’s 1,000 metres in speedskating. He’s thrilled to have a silver medal, but he came within four-hundredths of a second of winning gold. Likewise, he was only four-tenths of a second from finishing fourth.

The hundredths of a second between celebration and contrition are cruel. But they also prove how technically adept are the world’s best athletes.

The athletes in these sports typically put on brave faces when they fall short. Maybe the reality that the differences between their performances are so minuscule enforces in some a carefree attitude.